17 September 2008

The Vatican's Cultural Minister Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi reinforced on Tuesday (16 Sept 2008) the Catholic Church's position (starting with Pope Pius XII in 1950) that the theory of evolution was compatible with the Bible and the development of Man. Furthermore, in keeping with the doctrine of Theistic Evolution, current Pope Benedict XVI affirms that the conflict between evolutionists and creationists is absurd.

“They are presented as alternatives that exclude each other,” the pope said. “This clash is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such.”